Kentucky Incarceration Rates On The Rise

New data show that Kentucky’s incarceration rate is increasing, while the national rate continues to decline.

Figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show Kentucky has the ninth-highest incarceration rate in the nation. The commonwealth’s female incarceration rate is more than twice the national average, making it the second-highest in America.

The Justice Reinvestment Work group found that one of the main reasons behind Kentucky’s increasing prison population is the rise in low-level non-violent offenses. Daniel Cameron is the spokesperson for Smart On Crime, a group advocating for criminal justice reform.

“We are looking at if we don’t make any changes to our criminal justice system. Or at least the policies as they’re implemented currently,” Cameron said. “We’re looking at another $600 million over the next 10 years.”

Cameron said the commonwealth can’t afford to put off making reforms to its criminal justice system. He said the state should consider reducing felony drug possession charges to a misdemeanor. Western Kentucky Democrat Rep. Gerald Watkins pre-filed a bill for the 2018 legislative session that would do just that.

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Imagine living and working somewhere designed to fit a couple hundred people. Now picture that same space crammed with twice that number. Madison County, Kentucky, Jailer Doug Thomas doesn’t have to imagine it. He lives it.

“I’m doing all that I can with what I have to work with, which is not a lot,” he said. “Because we’re a 184 bed facility with almost 400 people.”

According to the Madison County jail task force, roughly 80 percent of the people incarcerated there are jailed on charges that somehow relate to addiction. County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor wants to try a different approach.

A new survey shows more people moved out of Kentucky last year than moved into the state. About 55 percent of those surveyed by United Van Lines said they left Kentucky because they found a new job somewhere else. People also reported leaving to be closer to family and relocating for retirement.

The biggest age group moving out of the state is those 65 and older. United Van Lines spokesperson Melissa Sullivan said it’s only in the last two years that Kentucky has seen more people leaving the state.

A western Kentucky Democrat has pre-filed a bill for the 2018 legislative session to reduce the criminal penalty for drug possession. The legislation would lower the offense for first-degree possession, or personal possession, of a controlled substance from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Representative Gerald Watkins of Paducah hopes the bill will pass in the next legislative session, especially because he’s not running for re-election. The legislation would require those found guilty of drug possession to complete a treatment program and community service. Watkins said now is a good time to propose this bill because the public’s attitude toward drug crimes is changing.

A southern Kentucky judge said the cost of incarceration is changing the way Kentucky deals with drug offenders.

Warren Circuit Court Judge Steve Wilson said he’s seen a shift in how Kentucky’s legislators view incarceration for drug crimes. He said legislators are increasingly talking to him and other judges about alternatives to jail. He said the cost of keeping people behind bars has a lot to do with that shifting mindset.

When a Madison County jail task force examined overcrowding in their jails, they found that about 80 percent of the inmates were there on drug related charges. This led the county to look at how a public-private partnerships could help fund a new substance abuse treatment center

Judge Executive Reagan Taylor said the county’s jail is overcrowded and building a new one would cost about $50 million. He said a new jail would need to have 800 beds and it would probably be full or overcrowded in about ten years. Taylor said he didn’t want to use taxpayer dollars to build a new jail without looking at what they could do to reduce recidivism.